Archive for box-office
‘Toy Story 3′ Cracks the $1 Billion Mark
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Yesterday, Toy Story 3 crossed the $1 billion mark for worldwide ticket sales. The latest Pixar creation is only the seventh movie of all time to cross that threshold. Strangely enough, Toy Story 3 marks the second time this year that a Disney owned film has earned a billion dollars at the box office. Earlier this year, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland also scored worldwide earnings over $1 billion. With those films both grossing more than a billion dollars, Disney becomes the first studio ever to have two films reaching those astronomical earnings in one year.
Box-Office Benjamin$: Iron Man 2 Holds Serve, Crushes Robin Hood
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So it’s no secret that Iron Man 2 was going to be an inevitable box-office smash, which it proved last week by bursting into theaters with an impressive $130 million opening weekend. But the real test of it’s box-office potential is ultimately how it would perform the the subsequent weeks in theaters, as a new big-budget movie is set to be released almost every week throughout this summer movie season. Well, Stark & Co. have held their ground by fending off it’s major competitor this weekend, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood.
Box-Office Benjamin$: Avatar Continues to Dominate; Creeping Up On #2 All-Time
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I haven’t done a Box-Office Benjamin$ segment in a while, but thought it would be a good idea to bring you up to speed on the unbelievable money machine James Cameron’s Avatar has become. As the image above displays, Avatar (as of today) has grossed just over $505 million domestically and is inching close to $2 billion worldwide. It has been #1 at the box-office for four straight weekends since the film opened on December 18, 2009. In the process of destroying records and winning awards (Avatar won two Golden Globes last night for Best Director, James Cameron and Best Picture) the film will also dramatically affect how films are financed in the future.
Sorry for the hiatus folks, but after Comic-Con I think studios needed a week or so to decompress, thus resulting in the VERY slow past five days of movie news. Anyway, I’m back with this week’s edition of Box-Office Benjamin$ and Judd Apatow’s Funny People is on top, taking in a respectable $22.7 million during it’s opening weekend. This could be seen as somewhat of a disappointment for a labeled “R-rated blockbuster comedy” with such name-brand star-power, while The Hangover makes over twice as much on its opening weekend. Word must have spread about the heightened level of emotional drama, compared to Apatow’s previous two films, which maybe some people didn’t like or want to see. But that is why I think this movie is so great and is FAR superior as a motion picture than The Hangover. Check out my review of Funny People HERE.
Box-Office Benjamin$: Ice Age & Transformers Tie?
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From a box-office analysis standpoint, I really wish all movies would open on a Friday, it would really make things a lot easier. But I digress. As the week prior, my box-office predictions were little off in last week’s edition of BOB. I’ll get it, don’t worry. Ice Age 3 and Public Enemies opened last Wednesday, July 1st in an effort to derail the box-office behemoth that is Transformers 2. It looks as though the prehistoric animated family comedy beat a lot of exceptions by coming in first…barely and technically.
Box-Office Benjamin$: UP Is WuzUP
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What what did you think was going to happen? IT’S PIXAR!!! Of course UP would be on top. After the bombardment of sci-fi action movies thus far in May, it appears America was in the mood for some Diseny action. With the combination of near flawless reviews, 3D and the Disney-Pixar stamp, UP was #1 at the box-office this weekend taking in just over $68 million. It was pretty much expected because everything that studio touches turns to gold (i.e. Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, etc.). So it’s safe to assume that every film they put out will send families running to the multiplexes.
What’s sad and disappointing is the second straight blockbuster bomb that Warner Bros. has pumped out this year. After Watchmen was unsuccessful at the box-office back in March, WB was banking on Christian Bale and the Terminator loyals to storm to theaters in droves for Terminator Salvation. Last weekend Salvation raked in a disappointing $53.8 million. This weekend it dropped off a WHOPPING 61.4% coming in 3rd with an embarrassing $16.4 million and a $90 million domestic total after two weeks. McG and the WB suits have to be eating Ben & Jerry’s and sobbing as they’re looking at these receipts after all the promotion and expectations; not to mention the massive success of Star Trek, which pulled in a another $12 million, bringing its domestic total to $209 million. It’ll get to $250M, you’ll see.
Things aren’t going to get any easier this Friday, as two more epic comedies hit the already crowded multiplexes with Warner Bros.’ The Hangover and Will Ferrell’s Land of the Lost. The Hangover could be WB’s box-office “salvation” as it’s the latest comedy from Todd Phillips, the comedic genius behind Old School and Road Trip. With a much smaller budget than Watchmen and Terminator Salvation, WB could have the best chance to gain a significant profit with The Hangover, due to it’s R-rated raunchy appeal. It’s the first of its kind this summer season and has proved successful in the past, i.e. Knocked Up, Superbad, etc.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office this weekend.
CHAMP: UP %68.2 million
2) Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $25.5 million
3) Drag Me To Hell $16.6 million
4) Terminator Salvation $16.1 million
5) Star Trek $12.8 million
What Do You Think? Discuss
Box-Office Benjamin$: Angels & Demons Barely Survives Kirk & Spock
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Looks like lifetime ban from the Vatican and being a sequel-prequel to controversial The Da Vinci Code was enough to entice movie-goers to see Angels & Demons. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of people that saw it. In fact it was #1 at the box-office this weekend with a $48 million debut. However, if you look at it in context, Tom Hanks second outing as Professor Langdon is a huge disappointment. The Da Vinci Code was released May 19, 2006 and grossed $77 million its opening weekend; that’s almost $30 million more than the prequel-sequel that’s had years of hype and controversy.
Another thing that didn’t help Ron Howard’s movie is Star Trek. The best film of the summer thus far came back swinging in it’s second weekend, nipping at Hanks’ heels and taking in an impressive $43 million for 2nd place. That’s only a 43% drop, helping it’s domestic gross reach an outstanding $147 million domestically in just two weeks. The epic, positive word-of-mouth is what I think propelled Star Trek to such solid numbers. People were hesitant at first because of the nerd factor, but then when all their friends told them how great it was, they had to check it out for themselves. Wolverine came out a week prior to Star Trek and only has $150 million to it’s name and keeps on spiking. At this pace, Trek has a legitimate shot of breaking $250 million this summer. Not if Christian Bale has anything to say about it though, as Terminator Salvation opens in two days. It’ll be interesting to see if Trek can pull out another second place, as Demons is sure to swan-dive next weekend with it’s bad reviews and negative word-of-mouth, Wolverine-style.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office this weekend.
CHAMP: Angels & Demons $48 million
2) Star Trek $43 million
3) X-Men Origins: Wolverine $14.8 million
4) Ghost of Girlfriends Past $6.9 million
5) Obsessed $4.6 million
Source: Box-Office Mojo
What Do You Think? Discuss.
Box-Office Benjamin$: America is Obsessed With Beyonce
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“Ah hell no, he’s my man.”
That’s not a quote from the movie, but it could be. What’s hotter than Ali Larter and Beyonce going super-sexy crazy over Scranton’s new corporate boss Idris Elba? Apparently nothing. The fatal attraction-esque thriller Obsessed made an impressive debut at the box-office this weekend, taking in $28. 5 million.
Could be partially due to the very cool marketing game on the film’s official website. You’re basically IMing with an “obsessed girl” who responds to whatever you say, with impressive accuracy. My buddy Bryan and I were messing around with it at work last Friday and it’s a pretty fun time. Check it out!
Zac Efron’s 17 Again took a decent hit in it’s second weekend dropping over 50% in ticket sales. But who cares? Non of this matters. No one will even remember these two films existed after the blockbuster hurricane tears through multi-plexes. Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels & Demons and Terminator Salvation open everywhere on consecutive weekends, starting this Friday. It’s gonna be a BLOCKBUSTER BLOOD BATH! Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the box-office this weekend.
Champ: Obsessed $28.5 million
2) 17 Again $11.7 million
3) Fighting $11.4 million
4) The Soloist $9.7 million
5) Earth $8.6 million
Box-Office Benjamin$: Tweens and Idiots Make Miley #1
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America apparently celebrated Easter by paying money to see Miley Cyrus get into wacky shenanigans as herself and her super-duper-awesome alter ego, Hanna Montana in Hannah Montana: The Movie. Despite my sarcasm, she undoubtedly has a massive fan-base, so her new movie gaining the top spot at the box-office is not surprising if not expected. The surprising thing about this weekend’s box-office is the poor performance by Seth Rogen’s Observe and Report, making a pretty embarrassing $11 million. I posted a review of Observe and Report this past Thursday saying that it was quite hilarious and original, with it’s unusual and outlandishly dark tone. Most everyone that I know who saw the film had similar reactions, so I thought that it would have gained some epic word-of-mouth momentum, but apparently not. Maybe the word-of-mouth effect is taking a little longer than usual and hopefully Observe and Report can rake in some better cash next weekend. Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the box-office this weekend.
CHAMP: Hanna Montana: The Movie $34 million
2) Fast & Furious $28 million
3) Monsters vs. Aliens $22.6 million
4) Observe and Report $11 million
5) Knowing $6.7 million
Box-Office Benjamin$: Furious Cash
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The fourth installment of the Fast and The Furious franchise, creatively titled Fast & Furious, destroyed its competition at the box-office this weekend with an impressive $72.5 million. It set a record for April openings. I’m seeing it tonight and I’ll have a review posted shortly after. Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the box-office this weekend.
CHAMP: Fast & Furious $72.5 million
2) Monsters vs. Aliens $33.5 million
3) Haunting in Connecticut $9.6 million
4) Knowing $8.1 million
5) I Love You, Man $7.9 million
